After being drafted in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Brevin Jordan was excited to get to work.
His first NFL start wouldn't come until nearly halfway through his rookie campaign. The 21-year-old tight end was a healthy scratch for the first seven games of the season and only got his first start in Week 8 when veteran Pharaoh Brown was ruled out with an injury against the Los Angeles Rams.
In his NFL debut, Jordan caught three passes and scored his first career touchdown in that game.
With four games under his belt, Jordan has quickly gone from taking mental reps to actual live-game reps.
"It's way different," Jordan said. "When you're inactive, you're just watching. You see a team, they run a couple stunts or whatever, they run a certain coverage, and you're like, 'Okay, I see that.' From the sideline, it's different, but on the field, when a team is disguising cover two, then they drop to cover one or whatever the situation is, it's always a little bit faster. Getting that time to be inactive and really study and learn how to read coverages and how to read zones and just everything. It's helped a lot."
The rookie has been active for every game since his debut. On Sunday against the New York Jets, Jordan scored his second touchdown on a 13-yard pass from QB Tyrod Taylor to give Houston a 7-3 lead in the second quarter.
"They were in zero coverage," Jordan said. "We ran a concept that, honestly, the ball wasn't supposed to come to me. It was really designed to go to Nico (Collins). They were in zero coverage, and Tyrod (Taylor) just really took a blind faith on me and threw the ball to a spot where I was going to be, and then we got in."
With six games remaining, Jordan finds his opportunities and his confidence growing. Looking back at those weeks of waiting, he says he wouldn't change a thing about his rookie campaign.
"That journey, it's been beautiful," Jordan said. "That's the word I'll actually use for it. It's been beautiful because the Houston Texans, they drafted me and they didn't throw me right into the fire like a lot of first-round, second-round guys. They didn't throw me right into the fire and say, 'go play.' For me, not that I wasn't comfortable, but I had to learn how to be a pro."
Through four games with two starts, Jordan has caught nine passes for 80 yards, averaging 8.9 yards per catch and scored two touchdowns. With his performance against the Jets, Jordan became just the second rookie tight end (joining Pat Freiermuth) with multiple receiving scores.
See Jordan and the Texans host the Colts on December 5 at NRG Stadium in Week 13.Kickoff is set for noon CT. Click here for tickets
